Its chairman Jackie Chung was in Australia last week with a small delegation to negotiate directly with farmers to supply its boutique supermarkets in Guangdong, China's most populous province.

Despite Australian farmers heaping praise on the China Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA), which took effect in December, Mr Chung said the deal had a relative low profile in China.

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Chinese specialty food retailer Winha has signed a memorandum of understanding with cherry growers in the Goulburn Valley. Credit:Craig Abraham

"A lot of Chinese aren't aware of the FTA," Mr Chung said. "Out of a population of 1.4 billion, 30 per cent would know about it."

And Mr Chung hopes this lack of understanding will help give his company an edge over its competitors.

He says the agreement has allowed Winha to effectively become its own exporter and importer. It has set up an Australian subsidiary to buy Australian products that it will sell directly into China through its supermarket chains.

Mr Chung and other Winha representatives travelled to Shepparton in Victoria's Goulburn Valley on Friday and signed two memorandums of understanding with cherry and pear growers.

Winha chairman Jackie Chung inspects pears at a farm near Shepparton.

He already has a supply agreement with a Melbourne-based infant formula manufacturer and hopes to strike similar deals with beef farmers and health supplement companies.

He said the FTA had also allowed Winha to slash the customs process for imported Australia, which normally takes six months to a year, to between two and three months, therefore securing supply before its competitors.

"In a free market, competition is inevitable, but being the first movers, we have an advantage," he said.

When asked why he chose Australia over other food exporting nations, it was a question about density and regulation.

Density, because there is plenty of land relative to people in Australia, which makes for safer and greener food production, and the country's regulatory standards ensured it stayed that way.

"Australia is the only country in the world that regulates vitamin production like drugs. Therefore, Australia has very high standards when it comes to food consumption and because of the FTA Australian products have become more competitive," Mr Chung said.

But buying directly of Australian farmers isn't about saving money by cutting out the middle men – it acts as a certificate of authenticity.

"In China there are a lot of distributors that import poor quality foods that they are pretending to be good quality food.

"I hope to correct that market. We are actually sourcing from the source and breaking down the distribution network."

Winha has a registered member base of 800,000 customers. It expects that number to hit one million in the next six months, and two million in the next 18 months.

The growth hinges on the company expanding its product range, which attracts more customers. And the more customers it gets, the quicker it can grow its inventory.

"Its a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Winha, which is listed in the US, is also considering a float on the ASX in the future to further strengthen it ties with Australia.